


Diagnosis

by HazelnutShippingCo



Category: House M.D., Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle
Genre: Blood, Coughing, Fever, M/M, Parasites, Post-Series, Princeton Plainsboro Teaching Hospital, Seizures, Surgery, Vampirism
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-11-30
Updated: 2014-11-30
Packaged: 2018-02-27 12:10:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,240
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2692475
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HazelnutShippingCo/pseuds/HazelnutShippingCo
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Post-series Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle crossover with House M.D.</p><p>When Kurogane begins experiencing seizures, it's up to Princeton-Plainsboro Teaching Hospital's diagnostic team to determine the cause.  But as his condition worsens and his list of symptoms grows, will they be able to solve the case in time?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Diagnosis

**Author's Note:**

> I wanted to write this fanfic to resemble an episode of House M.D. The "***" breaks represent scene changes. Hopefully, this does not make the narrative seem too choppy.

 “House!”  Cameron quickly closed the distance between her and the other doctor who was hobbling away, pretending not to hear her.  “I’ve got a case for you.”

“Oh goody,” he snarked, pressing the elevator button with the end of his cane.  “Another boring ER patient.  Too bad I’m much too busy right now.”

“You haven’t had a case in weeks,” she reminded him, stepping around to block his path.  “Besides, I have a feeling you’ll want to take this one.  Twenty-seven year old male, presented with seizures…”

“So get him an MRI.  You don’t need my diagnostic team to solve this one.”

“Can’t,” she stated.  “Patient’s left arm is made of at least 30% metal.”

“So… Either you’re treating Wolverine, or it’s a prosthetic.  Take it off, scan his head, and call Professor X to give him the news.”  House walked past Cameron and into the elevator.

“Can’t do that either,” she called after him.  “The prosthetic is connected directly to his nerves in over a hundred ways.  I’ve never seen this kind of technology outside of a science fiction flick.  We didn’t even know it was a prosthetic until his friend told us.”

House stuck out his cane to stop the closing doors.  Cameron could see a spark of interest light up in his blue eyes.  “An advanced nerve-operated appendage replacement...  Cool.  Send him up.” 

***

“The ER couldn’t get a detailed history because some stuffed animal kept interrupting?” Foreman asked skeptically.  “Cameron’s got to be screwing with us.”

“The guy had one seizure.”  Chase closed his copy of the case file and tossed it back onto the office table.  “Why are we even considering this case?”

“Isn’t it obvious?” Thirteen answered him.  “House just wants an excuse to check out the patient’s prosthetic.  You have to admit, technology like this sounds a little farfetched.”

“Whatever his reasons are, this case seems pretty open and shut.  Contact the company that made the prosthesis, ask them how to remove it, then get our MRI,” Taub reasoned.

“Sounds like the simplest approach,” Foreman agreed.  “So, where’d he get the arm?”

“Aliens,” House supplied, limping into the office, late as usual. 

“Excuse me?” Foreman laughed.

“Aliens,” House repeated.  “Patient said he got the limb on another world.”

“Right…” Chase said.  “I guess we’re adding delusions to our list of symptoms.”

“Nope,” House replied.  “The two friends who came in with him confirm.  It’s from some place called ‘Piffle World’.  And before you ask, no, they’re not on drugs.  Tox screen was negative.”

***

“This is ridiculous,” Kurogane grumbled, scowling at his companions and pulling his arm away from the short, large-nosed man who was about to poke it with another needle.  “I’m fine, now can we get out of here?”

“You’ve had three seizures in the past 24 hours,” the doctor explained, giving his left index finger another jab and making note of the response on a clipboard.  “For someone who claims not to have a history of seizures, this is probably something you want to take seriously.”

“What do you mean _claims?”_ Kurogane growled.

“Now, now, Kurgy,” Fai chided.  “The doctor’s only doing his job.”

“He’s right, Kurogane,” Syaoran said.  “What if something like this happens again?  Better to get it checked out now.”

Kurogane frowned, but stopped protesting.

“Dr. Taub,” Fai addressed the short man.  “Does your team have any ideas yet on what might have caused these attacks?”  His voice held steady, but Kurogane could sense a nervousness the wizard was trying to hide.

“At this point, it’s difficult to say,” the doctor answered between pinpricks.  “Because of the metal in your friend’s arm, we can’t do all the tests we normally would for a case like this.  If we knew how the prosthesis was connected, we might be able to temporarily remove it so we could scan him.  If you could give us any more information, we might be able to get you out of here faster.”

“I’m sorry, doctor,” Syaoran replied.  “We’ve told you all we know.”

***

“Well, of course they can’t tell us,” House stated.  “That would violate the prime directive!” 

The team ignored his joke and continued their discussion.  “We know the mechanical arm sends signals to the brain in addition to receiving them.  Maybe the system is malfunctioning,” Thirteen reasoned.  “Maybe the thing that’s preventing us from finding the problem _is_ the problem.”

“But if so, how do we fix it?” Foreman asked her.  “We’re still no closer to figuring out how to take the thing off.”

“We could tell them to go back to whatever planet the thing was made on,” Taub suggested.  “Get it fixed there.”

“And what if it’s not the cause?” Chase countered.  “There are plenty of other possible causes for seizures.  We can’t just send them away and hope we guessed right.  If it does turn out to be the prosthetic, I’m sure I can surgically remove the thing if need be.  But I need us to prove it’s not something else before I re-maim the guy.”

“Did you hear that?” House asked sarcastically.  “He thinks you should actually do the job I hired you for and figure out what’s wrong with the patient before you send him away.  Ha.  Imagine that.  Alright, differential diagnosis for a seizing cyborg – go.”

***

Kurogane felt something touch his face, waking him, and pulled away.  “He’s still so warm,” he heard Fai’s voice say.  “Do you think this is being caused by his arm as well?”

“The meds should bring his temperature back down to normal.  We were wrong about the prosthesis causing the seizures.  Fever indicates some kind of infection.”  A woman’s voice was speaking now.  Kurogane struggled to open his eyes.

“It couldn’t be both then?” Fai asked.

“House doesn’t believe in coincidence,” she replied.  “It’s more likely that both symptoms have the same cause.”

“Ah, a wise man.”

“Wise isn’t necessarily the term I would use, but…”

Kurogane regained control of his eyelids and lifted them to see Fai standing by his bedside along with the female doctor from the diagnostic team.  “What…” he began, wondering why his groggy brain couldn’t seem to form a complete question.

“It’s alright, Kuro-rin.”  Fai grasped his hand.  “You blacked out for a while there.  You had another fit - a worse one this time.”

The ninja squinted as the woman doctor shone a bright light in his eyes.  “You’ve also developed a fever.  We’ve put you on medication to keep it down,” she explained. 

Kurogane took a breath to respond, but expelled it with a cough.  “Ngh… my chest…”

“Is it a sharp pain, or dull?” the doctor asked, pulling out a stethoscope. 

“Like a weight,” he answered.

She pressed the cold metal instrument to his skin.  “Take a deep breath.”  He tried to comply, but his lungs seemed unwilling to expand to their normal potential.  He coughed again.  “We’ll take him down to radiology as soon as his temperature drops enough,” she told Fai.  “X-rays should tell us what’s causing the chest pain.”  He felt the wizard’s grip on his hand tighten slightly.

***

“X-rays are clean,” Chase observed, his eyes moving over the backlit images.  “There are no clues that indicate why our patient is suddenly having breathing problems.”

“Could be an after effect of the seizures,” Thirteen suggested.  “Convulsions caused muscle damage, led to weakness in the diaphragm, making it difficult for the patient to expand his lungs.”

“But what about the fever?” Foreman pointed out.  “Muscles weakness isn’t going to explain that.”

“What if all three symptoms have the same root cause?”  The team turned to look at Taub.  “A tumor pressing on the right part of the brain could cause seizures and difficulty breathing,” he continued.

“And the fever?” Foreman asked.

“Paraneoplastic syndrome,” Taub answered.

“It fits,” House agreed.  “Go tell tall dark and wheezy that he has brain cancer.  Get consent to cut into his head.”

Hold on a minute,” Chase stopped him.  “You expect me to open him up and go blindly fishing for a tumor that might not even be there?  In his _brain?”_

“Unless you have a better idea,” House replied.  “Yeah.”

***

“Cancer?” Syaoran asked.  “Are you sure?”

“It fits the symptoms,” Dr. Foreman replied.  “Without an MRI to confirm…”

“You want to cut into my head on a hunch?!”  His attempt to yell at the doctor irritated his respiratory system, and Kurogane bent forward, coughing into his hand.  Fai placed a gentle hand on his shoulder.

“If the tumor grows larger, it could stop your breathing entirely,” the doctor countered.  “Different parts of the brain control different body actions, so we know where the tumor has to be.”

“Isn’t there any safer option?” Fai asked, rubbing Kurogane’s back soothingly as he continued to cough.

“Chemotherapy could take too long, and it might not reduce the tumor’s size enough to make a difference.  The best course is to remove it entirely.”

“Kuro-puu, you’re bleeding!” Mokona exclaimed suddenly, jumping from Syaoran’s arms to the bed, concern scrunching her small face.  Kurogane pulled his hand from his lips to reveal it speckled with red droplets.

“Kurgs, I think you should sign that consent form now,” Fai urged him, making no more attempt to hide the worry in his voice.

“No need.”  Dr. Foreman shook his head. 

“What?  Why?” Fai asked.

“We were wrong.  This isn’t brain cancer.”

***

“What causes seizures, fever, and bloody sputum?” House questioned his team, gathered again around the office table.

“Tuberculosis?” Thirteen suggested.

He shot her down.  “It’s moving too fast.  Three days ago, he was perfectly healthy.  Now he’s seizing five times a day, bleeding from his lungs, and running a temperature barely controllable by meds.  What’s changed?  What are we missing?”

“Toxins?” Chase offered.  “But we can’t go checking the places he’s been.  According to them, they only just arrived in this world hours before coming to the hospital.”

“Question them again,” House ordered.  “Find out everything he touched, tasted, or breathed in the past week.”

“Everybody lies,” Taub reminded him.

“But at this point we’ve nothing else to go on,” House admitted.  “In the meantime, start the patient on broad spectrum antibiotics.  If it’s an infection, we need to kill it before it kills him.”

***

Kurogane awoke from jumbled, feverish dreams to find Fai sitting in a chair beside him, keeping watch.  Syaoran and Mokona were nowhere to be seen.  “Where’s the kid?” he asked.  “And the creampuff?”

“I sent them to get some sleep.”  Fai placed a hand on his forehead to check his temperature, despite the fact that it was clearly listed, along with his other vital signs, on the display monitor above his head.  “It _is_ the middle of the night, you now.”

“Mmh,” Kurogane acknowledged, coughing softly.  “And what about you?”

“I’ll be fine,” the mage replied, giving him a smile that neither of them believed.

Kurogane shifted to one side of the narrow bed.  “Come here.”  He spoke softly to avoid setting off another spasm of coughs.

Fai hesitated a moment, looking uncertain, before climbing into bed beside the other man.  He laid his head gently on Kurogane’s shoulder, arranging his arms carefully to avoid impeding the warrior’s already labored breathing.  Kurogane curved his own arm around Fai’s back, snugging him closer.  They lay in silence for a time, interrupted only by periodic coughing.  Kurogane felt Fai cringe as he wiped his mouth following a particularly bad fit.  The wizard opened his mouth to speak, but then seemed to think better of it.

“What is it?” Kurogane whispered.  Fai remained quiet.  “Talk to me,” the ninja breathed down into his soft blond hair.  “Please.”

Finally, Fai conceded.  “Do… Do you remember the promise you made to me in Tokyo?” he asked, not lifting his eyes to meet Kurogane’s.  “You said, ‘If you want to die so badly, I’ll kill you myself later.  But for now, you live.’  When you said that, I was the one dying, but now…  The medicine isn’t working.  The doctors don’t even know what’s wrong with you!  If they can’t fix this…  You can’t die before me, Kuro…  If the time comes… If…” Fai’s voice trailed off brokenly.

Shock hit Kurogane as he realized what Fai was asking.  “You expect me to…”  He shook his head.  “Fai, I…”

 _“Please,_ Kurogane,” Fai pleaded, raising his head to face him with tear-brimmed eyes.  “You can’t leave me behind!  Starving, alone, without you… I… I can’t…”  He pressed his face into Kurogane’s shoulder.  The ninja could feel his warm tears soaking into the fabric of his hospital gown.  _“I’m scared, Kuro-sama,”_ Fai whispered.  _“I’m so scared…”_

Kurogane moved his other arm to embrace the weeping vampire.  Tears stung his own eyes, but he blinked them away.  “I’m not going to leave you,” he promised.  “I swear to you, I won’t leave you behind.”  Placing a soft kiss on his forehead, as if to seal the oath, he closed his eyes and held Fai as the mage continued to sob.

***

“You won’t get any different answers from me separately than you did from us together,” Syaoran assured the dark-skinned doctor firmly in the hallway outside Kurogane’s room.  “We’ve told you everything, answered each question honestly.  There’d be no reason for us to hide anything, not when Kurogane is this sick.”

Dr. Foreman sighed.  “Look, I know that.  It’s just, we’re grasping at straws here.  Your friend’s condition continues to worsen despite the antibiotics we’ve been pumping into him.  If he’s picked up some kind of drug-resistant bacteria from another world, there may be nothing we can do.  At the rate things are going…”

“If you don’t figure it out soon, he’ll die,” Syaoran followed his thought to its conclusion.  A heavy feeling sank into the pit of his stomach.  He looked through the window to where Fai sat by Kurogane’s bedside, holding the other man’s hand tightly in his own.  Mokona lay at Kurogane’s other side, tucked against his shoulder.  After all they had been through, now this.  And if Kurogane died, Fai would soon follow.  Syaoran suddenly realized the piece of information they had neglected to mention.

“Dr. Foreman, my friend Kurogane, he…” the young man struggled for a moment with how best to phrase it.  “He tends to donate blood fairly often.  Could that have affected his health in any way?”

The doctor shook his head.  “Donating blood couldn’t cause something like this.  Unless…  When your friend gives blood, is it at a clinic of some kind?  Clean conditions?”

Syaoran had rarely seen Fai being fed.  It was something the two men tended to do in private.  Yet he couldn’t imagine the process was entirely sanitary.  “No,” he admitted to the waiting physician.  “It’s not always clean.”

“I’ll run some more labs,” Dr. Foreman said.  “Test for blood-specific pathogens.”

“And if you can find one?” the young man asked.

“If we know what we’re dealing with, we can hit it with more specific antibiotics.  Narrowing our search parameters gives us a better chance.”

“In that case,” Syaoran said.  “Check for diseases that can be passed to the blood from someone’s mouth.”  The doctor looked askance at this suggestion and Syaoran knew he would have to explain further.

***

“You mean I did this to him?”  Fai looked to be on the verge of tears, his normally fair skin turned sheet white.

“The doctors just need to look into all of the possibilities,” Syaoran told him.  “They still don’t know what’s making him sick – that’s why they’re doing more tests.  But even if the germs entered his body during a feeding, it isn’t your fault.”

“Not my fault?” Fai stared at him incredulously.  “If it’s because of me that he was exposed…”

 _“Fai,”_ Kurogane croaked out in interruption.  “Stop.”  The wizard closed his mouth and cast his gaze to the floor.  “Hey kid,” the ninja continued with another cough.  “Why don’t you take the creampuff downstairs for something to eat?”

Their eyes met for a moment, and the young man nodded in understanding.  “Come on, Mokona,” he said.

“But…”  The small creature looked from Fai to Kurogane and back again.

“It’ll be okay,” Syaoran reassured her, gently picking her up from the foot of the bed.  Kurogane gave him a quick nod of thanks while pressing a hand to his mouth and continuing to cough.

Once the others had left the room and the coughing fit had passed, he addressed the mage.  “You’re shaking,” he observed.

“I’m upset.”

“You’re hungry,” he corrected.  “How long has it been now?”

Fai frowned but did not try to deny it.  “Five days in the hospital,” he counted.  “Six before that.  But it doesn’t matter.  You’re sick.”

“It won’t do me any good to have you starve.”

“No.”  Fai held his ground.  “You need your blood more than I do.”

“Idiot.”  Kurogane could feel another coughing spasm approaching.  “It’s not like I have much use for this stuff anymore, anyway,” he said, gesturing to the flecks of blood he could feel speckled on his lips.  “No sense in letting it go to waste.”  The vampire hesitated, the color of his eyes shifting subtly back and forth as he fought against his instincts.  The ninja grew impatient.  “Would you hurry up already?”

The coughing began anew, but he didn’t bother to cover his mouth this time.  The sight of fresh blood tipped Fai over the edge.  Drawing the blinds closed, he approached.  His eyes gleamed golden as he climbed onto the bed, leaning over the warrior with one knee on either side.  _“I’m sorry,”_ Fai whispered.  Kurogane drew in a rasping breath, and Fai pressed his lips gently against Kurogane’s own.  His soft tongue darted out to lap up the droplets expelled from the ninja’s lungs.  Kurogane opened his mouth further to allow him access to more.

Suddenly, Fai drew back, an unexpected and curious look on his face.  Leaving the bed, he slipped into the bathroom.  Kurogane heard the sound of retching and grew concerned.  “Fai?”

Moments later, the vampire returned.  His face had grown even paler, nausea draining out the remaining color.  The look of confusion remained.  “That’s not your blood…”

***

Fai hurried down the corridor in the direction of the diagnostic team’s office.  It didn’t make sense.  How could the blood not be Kurogane’s?  It was coming from his lungs.  Who else’s could it be?  But his senses did not lie.  There was no other reason Fai’s body would have reacted the way it did.  This could be the missing part of the puzzle, the piece of information the doctors needed to solve this case and save Kurogane’s life.  Realizing that, Fai had rushed from the room, the need to feed forgotten.  He had to deliver this message to the doctors immediately.

Coming down the hallway from the opposite direction, Fai saw a man walking with a cane.  Though he had not met him, Fai knew by description that this must be the doctor in charge of Kurogane’s case. 

“Dr. House!” he shouted, running to intercept him. 

“Not now, blondie.  General Hospital starts in two minutes.”  The man continued limping down the hallway toward his office, clearly indifferent to the urgency with which the mage approached him. 

“You need to test the blood,” Fai insisted, turning and walking alongside him.

“Listen, we’ve already tested his blood for everything that could cause these symptoms,” House interrupted.  “He was negative for all of them.”

“You only ran the tests on the blood you took from his arm, not the blood that was coming from his lungs,” Fai pointed out. 

“Blood is blood.”  House shrugged.  “It doesn’t matter where you take it from.”  He frowned as Fai stepped in front of the office door, blocking his path.  “Why don’t you leave the medical ideas to the people who actually know what they’re talking about?” he asked irritably.  “Now get out of my way.”

Fai held his ground.  Fighting down the frustration and anger he felt rising within him, he forced his voice to remain steady.  “The blood he’s coughing up isn’t his own.”

House raised an eyebrow at that statement.  “Well, there’s one I haven’t heard before,” he replied sarcastically.  “Man coughs up someone else’s blood.  Go bother some other doctor.  I don’t have time for this nonsense.” 

He attempted to push past Fai, but the wizard stood firm.  “It’s the truth!” Fai shouted.  “Go test it and see for yourself.”

“Even if it was someone else’s blood,” House began to ask. “How would you even…”  He stopped and took a step back to look Fai over.  “So, you’re the vampire,” he said, smirking.  “He’s lying in a hospital bed, dying of who knows what, and you still can’t keep your mouth off of him.”

Fai glared at him with eyes turned gold.  He wanted very badly to claw the smug look off the doctor’s face.  Hunger and irritation were pushing him past his limit – he was losing control.  Fai took a deep breath.  Like it or not, this frustrating man was Kurogane’s best hope for survival. 

Dr. House did not seem at all concerned about tempting the vampire’s wrath.  Even so, he had ceased making mocking comments and now wore a thoughtful look.  “The blood isn’t his…” he muttered.  Suddenly, an idea seemed to click in his head.  Reaching with his cane, he banged on the office window, startling the doctors inside.  “Taub,” he shouted.  “Get me an ultrasound machine and bring it to the patient’s room.”  With that, he turned away from Fai and walked back down the hall, moving surprisingly quickly for a man who had been badly limping just minutes ago.

***

“What’s that?” Kurogane rasped as the short doctor wheeled in a new machine.  He had arrived shortly after Fai had returned with the cane-wielding doctor.  Syaoran and Mokona had seen the apparatus being taken to the room and followed them.

“This is an ultrasound machine,” Dr. Taub answered him.  “Don’t worry, it’s completely painless.”

Kurogane was about to reply that he was in no way concerned about pain when Mokona jumped from Syaoran’s arms onto the bed, interrupting him.  “Mokona knows what that is!” she exclaimed.  “That’s what they use to see babies when they’re still inside mommies’ tummies!”

Kurogane raised an eyebrow at the doctors.  “Well, I’m sure as hell not pregnant,” he assured them, wondering what all this could be about.

“Then lucky for you, this machine is good for more than disproving fanfiction theories,” Dr. House replied.  “This ultrasound is going to show me whose blood you’ve been coughing up.” 

Untying the top of Kurogane’s hospital gown, House pulled it down to expose his chest and smeared a clear gel substance over his skin.  Turning on the machine, the doctor placed its probe against Kurogane’s skin and moved it until the image on the screen showed him what he was looking for.

“There,” House said, pointing to several rounded objects on the image.  “Do you see them?”

“What are those?” Syaoran asked, leaning closer to get a better look.

“Parasites,” House answered.  “He probably picked them up on some other world by drinking unclean water or eating something with their eggs in it.  They lack any structures which could be seen by an X-ray, which is why we didn’t find them earlier.”

“So, the blood he’s been coughing up is actually from the worms?” Taub asked.

House nodded.  “Our patient has an exceptionally strong immune system,” he explained.  “Likely due to his symbiotic relationship with Dracula over there.  His body attacked the worms as they developed.  This released the toxins inside them, causing the seizures, fever, and chest pain.  The more parasites his body destroyed, the more his symptoms worsened.  Waste from the killed parasites built up in his lungs, causing the breathing difficulty.  That’s what he’s been coughing up.”

“Now that you know what it is, you can fix it, can’t you?” Fai asked.  He was visibly troubled by House’s comment that he was to blame for Kurogane’s body’s response to the parasites, but he held himself together.

“He’ll have to have surgery to remove the remaining worms before their poison gets into his system, and to drain the remaining fluid,” House answered.  “It’s difficult to say exactly how many of those bugs are still in there, but assuming they haven’t caused too much lung damage, he should make a full recovery.”

Fai and Syaoran each breathed a sigh of relief while Mokona danced up the bed to kiss Kurogane on the cheek.  “Thank you, doctor,” Kurogane said, stroking the small creature’s ears as she sat on his shoulder.

House shrugged.  “Thank your leech of a boyfriend.  He’s the one who found the missing clue.” 

Kurogane nodded.  He felt short of breath and on the verge of another coughing spasm.  Unable to continue speaking, he cast a meaningful glance toward Fai.  The mage caught it and managed a small smile in response.

“We’ll be taking you to the next available operating room,” Dr. Taub told them.  “Nurses should be in to prep you shortly.”

***

 “The procedure is fairly straightforward,” Dr. Chase explained to the group as they sat in the pre-surgery waiting area.  “We’ll be using video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery in conjunction with ultrasound imaging to efficiently remove the parasites.  The fewer, smaller incisions will mean less recovery time, but the surgery itself will be time-consuming, due to the sheer number of worms.  Fortunately, they’re large enough in size that we’ll be able to find them all easily.  Following surgery, we’ll keep you under observation for a week to make sure no more parasites develop.  After that, barring any complications, you’ll be free to go.”

He handed Kurogane a clipboard containing a consent form.  “This is major surgery,” Chase continued.  “There’s risk involved with being under anesthesia and potential damage to your lung tissue.  I’m required to inform you of that before you give consent.”

“As I understand it, I don’t really have a choice,” Kurogane said, taking the clipboard and signing his name.  His voice was weak, and talking had become even more difficult.  He returned the clipboard to the surgeon.

“We’ll be ready for you in just a couple of minutes,” Chase said.  He left to scrub in. 

Kurogane’s three companions gathered around his gurney to wish him well.  “Get better soon, Kuro-daddy,” Mokona said, giving him another kiss on the cheek.

Syaoran placed a hand on his shoulder.  “See you in a few hours,” he said.  Kurogane nodded to him.

Fai was the last to approach.  He looked pale and worn; the stress of the past five days had taken its toll on him.  But despite that, he stood straight, refusing to break down.  “Be sure you come back to us, Kuro-puu,” he said.  Then, leaning down, he kissed Kurogane’s cheek as Mokona had done.  _“I love you,”_ he whispered in his ear before drawing back to stand with the others.

Kurogane tried to respond, but could not seem to draw enough air into his lungs.  Hospital staff began to roll him down the hallway toward the operating room.  His companions receded from view.  He wanted to call out to them, to reassure them that he would return, alive and well, but he could not even croak out the syllables. 

The next thing he knew, a mask was being placed over his mouth and a doctor was telling him to count backwards from one hundred.  A strange thing to ask of a man who cannot speak, Kurogane thought as the gas began to take effect.  In his last moments of consciousness, Fai’s voice echoed through his drowsy mind – _“I love you.”_

***

Kurogane awoke to find Fai hovering over him.  “Welcome back,” the magician said softly.  “How are you feeling?”

Kurogane took a deep breath.  His chest was sore, and he felt as though his insides had been jabbed with a million small needles, but the heaviness was gone, and he could breathe without the urge to cough.  “Much better,” he replied.  “How long was I out?”

“About seven hours,” Fai answered.  “You had us worried for a bit around hour number four, but you managed to pull through.”  The wizard’s voice caught in his throat, as though he was trying to hold back tears.

Kurogane reached up to touch Fai’s face with his hand.  “I promised I wouldn’t leave you, didn’t I?”

Fai took his hand and kissed it.  “Yes,” he said.  “You kept your promise.”  The mage sighed.  “The other two are out in the waiting room, sleeping.  I told them I would come get them when you woke up.  And of course, the doctor will want to see you as well.”  He got up and headed for the door.

“Fai,” Kurogane called after him.  The mage stopped mid-step and turned to look at him again.  “Thank you,” Kurogane said.  “I couldn’t have made it through this without you.” 

Fai smiled and wiped a tear from his eye.  “Oh, Kuro-sama…”  Fai gazed at him with such tender fondness that Kurogane felt a blush rise to his cheeks.

“Now, don’t get all sappy,” he chided.  “Go find the kid and the furball.”

Fai laughed.  It was a welcome sound that had not been heard for the past several days, and hearing it, Kurogane finally began to feel that things were returning to the way they should be.  “Alright, Kurgs,” Fai replied.  “I’ll be right back.”

***

As the next few days passed, Kurogane quickly recovered his strength.  Breathing grew easier, and his body recovered from the toxins that had poisoned it.  He experienced no further seizures or fevers.  The doctors encouraged him to sit up and walk as much as he was able, and by the fourth day, it was rare to find him in his bed at all. 

As the group walked around the hospital grounds on the fifth day following Kurogane’s surgery, Syaoran brought up a point that none of them had previously thought of, having been more preoccupied with Kurogane’s health.  “How are we going to pay for this?” the young man asked.  “All this medical care must be expensive, and we don’t have that much cash on us.”

Mokona was quick to supply an answer.  “Don’t worry,” she said.  “Hospitals send you a bill so you can pay them later.”

“That’s fine,” replied Fai.  “But where are they going to send it to?  Who knows what world we’ll be in after this one.”

Syaoran suddenly stopped walking.  “That’s why they insisted I write down a home address when he was first checked in,” he realized.  The others paused with him.

“But,” Fai said.  “We don’t have a home in this world.”

“Whose address did you write down?” Kurogane asked.

***

“Watanuki!  Watanuki!  You’ve got mail!” Moro and Maru chanted as they ran through the shop to find its owner.

“Oh?” asked Watanuki as they arrived in front of the sofa he was reclined on and presented him with an envelope.  “I wonder who it’s from.”  He laid down his pipe to take the missive.  “Princeton-Plainsboro Teaching Hospital,” he read.  “What could they want?”  Taking up an ornate letter opener, he sliced open the envelope and removed its contents.

The face Watanuki made as he looked through the papers it contained set the two girls giggling.  “They want _how much?!”_ he exclaimed.  “Patient name: Kurogane,” he continued reading. 

“Mokona,” Watanuki addressed the small, black-furred creature sitting beside him.  “Contact the other Mokona.  Those guys and I need to have a talk…”


End file.
